How does your Garden Grow?

It's so fun to see how the garden keeps getting bigger each day.  I am just picturing how it will look when it gets fully grown, if I can keep it alive that long!  What do you use to fertilize your garden? Is there a good organic or toxin free way I can be fertilizing it?  Does anyone compost?  I am scared to try it for some reason, it seems complicated and smelly :p

Thought I would post a picture of my leaf lettuce... it has sprouted!! I planted it from seeds, so to watch it go from looking like a pile of dirt to little green leaves is so neat.  Can you tell I'm a garden virgin? hehe

MY LEAF LETTUCE SPROUTING

The tomato plants are getting bigger, too! I've got a whole row of them, so I should have lots of tomatoes this summer. I'm going to can some of them, too.

TOMATO PLANTS

The plums are getting much bigger on my plum tree.

PLUM TREE

I planted my hydrangeas behind my house, I can't wait for these to get huge!!!!  I wouldn't care if they grew taller than my roof! I love hydrangeas so much.

HYDRANGEAS

My dad is growing a huge garden on his farm. He started his a few weeks before mine and he's already eating the lettuce and things out of his! He has a green thumb and some sort of dirt that has super powers in it  :)

My dad's leaf lettuce and scallion from his garden.

I made me a nice fresh garden salad last night with the lettuce and fresh farm eggs.

Oh I forgot to mention, see that cutting board, that was wood left over form my butcher block counters, so I had a couple of cutting boards made out of it and kept one and gave the other one to a friend.

For my salad, I put leaf lettuce, spinach, eggs, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, scallions, and an oil and vinegar dressing I made myself and topped it off with Nutritional yeast (tastes like cheese).  Yes, that is the serving bowl it is in and I ate it all, you can never make a salad too big!  

I've been looking for some recycling containers for my kitchen and stumbled upon these today.  They don't stand up when they are empty so I'm not really sure how that would work.  If anyone has any neat ideas for your recyclables, please let me know or share a link.

$6.99 each from World Market.

Update on projects

LIBRARY CLOSET

I worked some on my library closet last night. I thought I would be able to get all the shelves up, but only managed to get 2 up.  I need to keep in mind projects takes twice as long as expected.  I will try to work on that some more tonight. I hope I can get it finished tonight, but if not, then by the weekend.  I have all my books scattered on the floor right inside  my bedroom, so I must get it finished soon. 

SOFA TABLE

I've only got one coat of primer on this so far and the top removed.  I did get the wood that I need cut for it, so all I need to do is finish painting the bottom and nail the boards on to make a top.

DRESSER

My dresser has one coat of primer on the bottom half.  I still haven't stripped the top yet so I can stain it.  I'm going to try to work on one of these at a time to finish them up.  The library closet is first priority right now.  Next I may switch over to this dresser and get it finished so I can have my clothes back in them. Right now all my clothes are in the dresser in the guest room.

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Since everyone liked my smoothie yesterday, I thought I would post the one I made this morning, too.  I'm going to try to attempt to post the recipe to it, but I am completely guestimating the amounts of each thing I used since I don't measure, I just throw the stuff in there.  

I'm not even sure what the name of it could be, I guess a Pomegranite Fruit smoothie?  I just threw in whatever I had in my freezer and frig!  Okay, here it goes, the recipe:

Pomegranate Fruit Smoothie

• 1 cup of fruit -Bananas, honeydew, and fresh blueberries. (I had cut up the bananas and honeydew and froze them myself)
• 1 cup of Pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp honey

Blend!  Like I said before, since I don't measure things, you can adjust it until it's the consistency you prefer.

Those little specs in the smoothie are from the blueberries :) 

Yumm!

Update on my Countertops

Lately when people come over, I've been getting a lot of positive comments on my butcher block counters.  Thought I would give an update and show a picture since I resealed them recently.  I absolutely love them!  I started sealing them with Tung oil and changed my mind after a few coats of it and decided to put 2 final coats of butcher block sealer on top. It's the coating that you see on those wooden salad bowls and such and is completely safe for food.  Although I won't be using mine for an actual cutting board, food will be getting on it all the time, so I wanted to be on the safe side.  (Yes that's doggy biscuits on the end of the counter there)

I do not regret getting the butcher block counters one bit.  Sometimes, I just want to stand and stare at them they're so pretty and turned out so well.  These are the solid oak ones from Ikea called Numerar.

The sealer really brings out the character in the wood, you can see every detail.  It also made them look a little darker, which I like, too.



When I first moved in, I remember thinking how I liked this big sink, but it needed a little loving care to bring out it's best.  After a lot of scrubbing and  new drains and faucet, she looks beautiful, like a brand new sink!

BEFORE

AFTER

You know what is funny, I have more fun using my kitchen now.  I love cooking in it and it even makes the food taste better :p  Really!  hehe  Well, to me it does.

This morning I made me a smoothie, I may start posting some of my cooking on my blog because I love to cook.  This kind of smoothie may not be everyones thing, it's a green smoothie.

If you or your kids don't like to eat vegetables or greens, this is a great way to eat them instead.  I put in strawberries, bananas, mango and peaches, fresh OJ, coconut milk, honey, and then just stuck the fresh spinach leaves in.  Blend and it turns into a green smoothie. 

You can't taste the spinach at all!  All I taste is the yummy goodness of the fruit.

I can hear a couple of my friends screaming ewww, but you really must try it. You would be pleasantly surprised.

Oh and making it on my pretty butcher block counter made it taste a little better, too.   :-D

Faucet Installed

Yesterday morning was one of those days.... it just didn't start out good.  I was walking out of the bathroom and getting ready to leave the house when I felt something wet on my feet. I looked down and I was standing in a pool of water.  So I followed the water trail and it led to my cabinet, I open the bathroom cabinet and it's flooded with water!  I panic and start grabbing towels and trying to get it all cleaned up.  Apparently on Saturday when I tried to switch out the faucet myself, I didn't screw something back on right.  I wasn't able to switch the faucets out, so my dad came over to fix the leak and switched it out for me.  I love the cute little porcelain knobs on this one.   The other faucet was very old and cracking and leaking around the edges, plus the knobs were plastic and visually unappealing, it was just time for a fresh new one.  I still haven't finished putting up the wallpaper in the bathroom, but I guess it will eventually get done.

From now on I will not mess with the plumbing  :)

Projects in motion

I worked on some projects this weekend.  I had a friend come over and help me get a lot of things done that's on my project list.

Library Closet

My friend painted the library closet for me, Benjamin Moore Bone White (It's a very pale beige).  I cut the boards the size I needed for the closet. She got the 1st couple of coats of paint on and I still have one more coat of paint to put on them. I got the wood from my dads farm. It's white pine.  Painting the shelves Delicate White by Olympic.  I'm hoping to have the library closet finished this week so I can post the final results! Yay I will be so excited when I finally have that done!

Sofa Table

I have this little sofa table that I don't quite know what to do with. I had originally got it to put behind my sofa when I lived in a different place, because it had such a wide open room for the table. Now my living room is much smaller and I keep moving this thing from room to room trying to find it a home in my house.

This is the sofa table.

I just took the top off of it and I'm going to replace it with some farm wood.  I have it primed white right  now, so I need to put a couple of more coats of white paint on it.  I'll probably use a creamy color instead of a real white.  

And I ordered this fabulous little knob for the drawer for it!

Is this great or what, you have to love Anthropologie!

Anthropologie Timepiece drawer knob.

My friend that helped me also brought over some fresh farm eggs from a friend of hers that has a lot of chickens :)

My fresh farm eggs.

I'll be posting pics of the library closet and sofa table as soon as I get it done this week. 

~Thanks Lisa for all your help this weekend!  

Starting my Garden & Hydrangeas

The Hydrangea is one of my favorite flowers. 

 If you've noticed, I have dried hydrangeas all over my house, but boy would I love to have fresh ones sitting around in vases all the time!  I knew I was going to eventually get some for my yard, but not sure where I'd put them.  

I bought 2 big beautiful Hydrangea bushes today!  They are so beautiful.  

They are a pretty good size, too.

  Here is what one of them looks like, I took a close up of it in the photo above.

I can not wait to get these planted so they can start growing!

It says filtered sun, so does this mean they can't have full sun at all?

If not, I can't put them where I had planned to, which was lined up against the back of my house.  I put them in full sun today and they wilted in 10 minutes flat!  I had to pull them back out of the sun and they perked back up.  They are Endless Summer Hydrangeas.  If anyone can give me some info on these before I plant them, I would appreciate it :)

I also planted more of my garden today.  It took about an hour and a half to get all these little plants planted, it was tiring (I'm out of shape), but so worth it.  I couldn't stop looking at it after I got it all planted and I'm not even done with it.  This area gets around 6 hours of full sun a day I think, and most of the plants directions said- needs at least 6 hrs full sun- so I should be ok. I planted them this evening because I heard it's better to plant when it's not full sun out.

My little garden.

If you're wondering why there is only a fence part of the way up, here is the story...

Little Foot kept running in the dirt and rolling around in it, so I bought some white picket fence to put around it. I knew it was short enough for him to jump over, but I thought it may at least deter him from going in it. He's usually pretty good about not going through barricades of any kind.  Wrong.  First thing he did was jump over it as I was putting it up, so I said that's not going to work.  Now I need to get a taller fence to put around it.  He's been pretty good about not going in it lately, so I think maybe he's learning, but I don't want to chance it. 

I still need to plant the leaf lettuce down the middle.

Here's what I planted:

• Arugula
• Tomatoes (Striped, Celebrity, Roma)
• Onions 
• Jalapeño peppers
• Habanero peppers
• Bell peppers
• Cayenne peppers
• Thai basil
• Dill
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Zucchini
• Sunflowers
• Marigolds
• Leaf lettuce (coming soon)

I ran out of room, so I wasn't able to plant my cucumbers.  I'm thinking of maybe putting them somewhere else.   I hope this garden survives.  I've never planted  my own little garden before, so any advice is surly welcome!!

Do you have a garden? What are you planting this year?  What's your favorite thing to plant?

Thailand - A special place in my heart

It saddens me to see what is happening in Thailand right now.  As some of you know, I lived there for 2 years.  It was an amazing time and I made many friends there that I still continue to talk with. I lived right in the heart of Bangkok for a year and a half and spent the last 6 mths I was there in Pattaya, Thailand.

Please keep these people in your prayers with everything they are going through right now.

I had said before I was going to post photos from the places I lived while I was there. When I first got there, I was living in a  little condo, what we refer to as an efficiency.  Actually I think it would be closer to looking like a motel room. There was no kitchen, just one open space with a bed, table, armoire (they don't have closets), and a vanity.  The door there is the bathroom. I didn't have anything but my suitcase with clothes, so I had to go buy sheets and this poster for over my bed to give the room some color and life. Those are pillow shams I am using as curtains.  It's nothing fancy, but it did the job.  The condo came furnished.

I also lived in a tiny townhouse with a house mate there. Here is what my room looked like.
Notice I chose the all white bedding and white curtains like I have now, but it was very hard to keep clean there.  I had to wash my laundry by hand.

This was the view outside the window.  I loved walking across the street from my home and ordering breakfast, lunch or dinner anytime I felt like it.  A meal cost about 50 cents at the time. This was in 2002.

I miss Thailand dearly and I hope to one day get to go back.  God bless Thailand.

The Ocean

This is a photograph I took when I lived in Florida. I was about 10 minutes from the beach. Oh how I miss that and how I miss the warm Florida weather!  The long winter here in NC has done me in and now it's the rainy season.  Anyway, I love this beach picture, I took it early morning while I was sitting there watching a surfer out on the waves. You can't tell from this photo, but he's out there! lol   I want to have this blown up and framed in my walnut frame my dad made me and put over my bed.  I usually use Snapfish for enlargements, but they do a really bad job of ocean and beach pics, they always turn out really dark and there's nowhere to write a msg asking them to lighten the picture or anything.  When I use to work at a photo lab, I always knew to lighten the outdoor pics that had water and sky in them, what can you do?  If anyone knows of a better service that does great jobs at enlarging beach photos, please let me know!

The weather really put a damper on all my projects.  It has done nothing but rain!  I can't plant my garden, I can't refinish my dresser because it's too humid from the rain in the shed, I can't paint my shed, I can't work on my landscape in front of the house, etc.  :(  Ok I am done whining now.  

As soon as all this gloomy weather is over, I will have more projects to post about.  I'm also hoping to finish my library closet up soon.  Keep coming back because the weather has bound to get better sometime! :)

Getting Wallpaper Started

My plan was to get my bathroom wallpapered on Sunday.  It seems each time I start a project lately, something stands in the way to keep me from finishing it.  My mom came over to help me put it up.  It became a little harder than expected with the unleveled walls and ceiling.  We forgot to get a roller to seal down the seams so the seems weren't laying flat well. There were bubbles in it that were hard to get out.  The razor we were using didn't want to cut for some reason and I kept tearing the wallpaper.  To top it off, I don't think the roll is going to be enough to do the whole bathroom since we're having to waste so much of it to match the pattern.  We got 2 strips up yesterday.  It took us 2 hours!  Then we gave up.  Ha!

I'm going to have to go to the store to get the correct supplies so it will be more simple next time I start it and I probably should order another roll of paper, but wow, this stuff was pricey. Ugh
I didn't get anything else done around the house really, except I decided to reseal my butcher block countertops again.

All in all, the wallpaper does look pretty.  I was worried it might look too busy in the room.

Wallpaper is by Kathy Ireland Home
It's environmentally friendly.
Product # is NL58196

Getting the Garden Started

A friend came over this morning and plowed a garden for me! Yay!  I'm so excited.  I haven't bought anything to plant in it yet, so I will go this weekend to get all that.

I am wanting to plant:

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Peppers
• Leaf lettuce
• Zucchini
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Basil

I'm wanting a Salsa Garden and things to make salads with.  Let me know if there is anything else that grows well, this is my very first garden.

My dad brought over a couple of Cayenne pepper plants and Bell peppers.  So I planted those out there already.

I'm going to have to put a fence up around it to keep my dog from destroying it.  As soon as I let  him out in the yard,  he made a mad dash to the dirt and started rolling around in it.  Maybe it was his way of trying to help me garden?  :)

Little Foot playing in the new garden.

Working On My Library Closet

I ordered a French door through Lowe's for my Library Closet I'm making.  It came with no holes for the doorknob and no place for the hinges, so I had to figure out a way to do all this myself.

And of course, who ya gonna call?

My dad chiseling the wood away for the hinge.

Three of us got the door up, my dad, a friend of the family and me, but we did it!

Last night I removed the doorknob and primed it.

Next, to put a coat of white paint on it, put the doorknob back on and remove the plastic off the windows.  Then I'll put shelves up in the closet and put all my books on them and  my library closet will be done!

Here is the link to the Library Closet that inspired me to make my own.  Library Closet

Nightstand Refinished - Before & After

I refinished my nightstand a week or so ago, but I wasn't happy with the drawer handles that were on it and the stores around here just didn't have what I was looking for. I was calling everyone I knew to see if they knew where I could find old ring drop handles.  Finally I decided to stalk Ebay for some and I found them, the perfect handles like I was picturing.

I don't know how old they are or anything, but I got a really great deal on them.  $12.74 for a set of 4.  At Lowes they were wanting $10. a piece just for 1 drawer pull similar to this that was nowhere near as nice.  Ebay saved the day again.

Here's the nightstand before I refinished it.

BEFORE

Here it is after.

AFTER

I love it!!!

Here's what I did.

The top part:

1. Removed varnish and old stain with varnish remover. 
2. Sanded it with an orbital sander.
3. Used a pre-stain wood conditioner. (Used lint free cloth to apply)
4. Stained it dark walnut (used a lint free cloth)
5. Applied tung oil to seal it. (lint free cloth)

The bottom part:

1. Removed drawers and handles.
2. Removed the faux bamboo and wicker attached to the top drawer and sanded.
3. Primed (Olympic primer, but will use Bullseye from now on, used Purdy brush to apply primer)
4. Painted it with Olympic Crumb Cookie (A very pale cream color, used Purdy brush to apply paint)
5. Replaced handles with old antique ones I got from Ebay

I really love how it turned out.  I got this nightstand and dresser set a while back and decided I didn't like them anymore and wanted to get rid of them. I even tried to sell them on Ebay and at a yard sale a few years ago and no one wanted them.  So I got to thinking, since they did cost me quite a bit of money, I may as well turn them into something I like instead of just giving them away and purchasing a whole new set.  I'm really glad I decided to do it and the nightstand turned out even better than I expected.

It looks great in the room and seems to flow better with it's new look.

Next on my project list is to refinish the dresser.

[UPDATE: Dresser above is refinished HERE.]

I also picked up my French door for my library closet and got that put up, but I still have to paint it white.  Then I need to put shelves up in the closet for the books.
[UPDATE: Library closet finished HERE.]

I'm getting my bathroom wallpapered the next Sunday coming up and installing my new bathroom faucet.
[UPDATE: Bathroom finished HERE.]

Hoping to have all of this done with in the next 2 weeks.  Oh and on the side I have been helping my friend remodel her whole kitchen and we're hoping to have that done within the next week or so also.  I will post her before and after pictures of her kitchen, too.  It's also turning out great!
[UPDATE: Kitchen finished HERE.]

I know I sound like a mad woman with all of this remodeling and decorating, but I absolutely love doing it.  It just brings such satisfaction seeing the transformation of a room or piece of furniture. I can't get enough. Bring it on!  :)

Go read more refinishing projects from others over at Home is Where My Story Begins
Also linked to A Beach Cottage.

Artwork

This is a painting my grandpa painted a long time ago.  I've always loved his paintings.   He also painted pictures of my cousin and I when we were little kids, I think my mom may have them in her basement.  I should get them and frame them so they can be displayed.  I found this easel online.  It came a light wood color and not put together. I stained it yesterday and put some tung oil on it.  I think my grandpas art looks great on it.  I will have to get more of the back story on this painting from my mom.  I know he lived in Florida, but this doesn't look like any of the coasts I saw in Florida so it may have been from an ocean in California, because I know they lived there, too.

I put this over to the left of my bed.  I would also like to get an antique vanity to put to the left of the painting on the other wall.  I also must invest in a new bed skirt!

Here is something like the vanity I would like to get. There are a lot of antique stores around, I may have to borrow a truck and go antique shopping soon :)

I'm looking for an antique vanity now.

Remember my inspiration picture I posted a while back with the picture of the ocean? That's where I got the idea to display his ocean painting on an easel in my room.  I also have a walnut frame my dad made me that I'm thinking of putting a picture of the ocean in black and white and hanging over my bed.

Inspiration picture

I got the easel from Amazon.  Link for it is here.

Water Filters

When we put the new butcher block in with my old sink, there was the problem about how I was going to hook my water filter up since the sink is only a 4 ring instead of 5. There is a place for the sprayer, but that's it. I can't hook my water filter up through it or I could put the filter there instead of the sprayer.  I love my sprayer, so I'm not sure I want to live without that.  The only other option is to drill a hole in the butcher block and put the filter over to the side of the sink.

My sink with the sprayer.

Here is the filter I have.

I've only got the white part of the filter right now, the box looking thing you see in the diagram. I have to buy the attachment that goes on top of the sink where you get the water from.

Here is how I had my filter sitting up on the sink before, just the white box up on the counter next to the sink.

Older photo of my kitchen before counters were installed.  See the filter on the sink?

Now that the counters are in and I have the new taller faucet, it just doesn't look right at all sitting the filter on top like that.  So what should I do?  Drill a hole in the butcher block to put it there so I can have the sprayer too or just replace the sprayer with the filter faucet?  Maybe I could live with replacing the sprayer with the filter for a while and see how it works out before I go drilling holes in my butcher block.  Decisions, decisions.

Speaking of filters, I have been wanting this waterfall shower filter for the longest time, so I think I may go ahead and get it.  I never got it before because I liked having the hose attachment so I could clean the tiles and wash my dog and such.  More decisions...  haha.

Sunflower Shower head by Gaiam.

When I lived in Atlanta, the tap water was awful there. It tasted very strong of chlorine and a medicine-y taste.  I tried a bunch of different filters before I found one that filtered the chemicals to the  point that I couldn't taste them at all.  This is the Aquasana filter and I can't live without this thing now.  I still have city water in the new town I moved to. It's nowhere near as bad as Atlanta tap water, but I can still taste a hint of the chlorine in it.  I just feel better about having all of that stuff filtered out.  My parents live in a smaller town in the mountains with well water that comes fresh from the mountain and their water tastes so perfect. Not a  hint of odor or chemical or anything.  

If you've been looking for a good filter, I highly recommend Aquasana , I have the AQ4000.

(I'm not affiliated, but I have to rave about how great this filter is.)

Azaleas and a Plum Tree

I had said back when I first got my house that I had azalea bushes planted all along the side of my property, but they weren't in bloom or anything so I was just guessing they were the bright pink azaleas.  Well, they have bloomed and look so pretty.  They turned out to be white and lavender (although they look a tad pink in the photos). Yay I love them!  I was thinking of moving them in front of my house where the holly bushes are now, but I am told they don't do well in full sun.  They would look so pretty there though :)

My azalea bushes.

White and lavender.

I visited South Africa for a couple of weeks a while back and there was this one family there that had a tree garden in their backyard. They had avocado trees, mango trees, you name it, they had it.  I always said, one day I want a fruit tree garden, too!  So, I am littering my backyard  with fruit trees! When I first moved in I got a peach tree and planted it.  Then a few weeks ago, I planted a cherry tree and it is doing really nice.  This past week I got a plum tree and it's still in the pot, hasn't been planted yet.  I have a grape vine I planted in back, too, but it's not doing well.  I'm in zone 7, what other fruit trees should I get for my backyard?

Here is my new plum tree.

My backyard gets real shady in the summer because of all the leaves being back on the trees, so hopefully these will do okay without direct sun all day.

Do you have any fruit trees?  Which ones do best and are easiest to maintain? 

Time to Fix Up the Outside

The weather is warming up and I'm ready to start tackling the outdoor projects.  I went this past week and bought 2 little dwarf spruce trees for each side of my front entrance.  I love them. I like how they swirl around, I hope I can keep them clipped right.  They are very slow growing and do nice in containers since they only grow about 2 inches a year.  Here is a picture of them.

I need to get some new containers for them of course.  That's one of my dogs favorite spots in the house. He lays there most of the day looking out the window.  :)

This is the boring sad exterior.  I want so badly to fix it up.  I don't really know where to begin.  The way my house sits on a hill makes it a little more difficult. I also don't like the way the door is to the left of all the windows instead of in the middle.

I was playing around with my Paintshop program and tried to see how things could look with new landscaping.  This isn't exactly how it is going to look, but just to get some ideas.

So if you have any ideas you would like to throw my way, that will help doctor the house up, feel free to email or leave a comment.  I've never designed a landscape before.